After all of the on-the-field and off-the-field drama for the US men's national team on Thursday, tonight was back to a more routine kind of match and result as they did what they always do on home soil: they beat Canada 2-0 to win the 2023 CONCACAF Nations League Final at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Despite the sorry state of the Mexican national team at the moment (they squeaked by Panama 1-0 in the third-place game earlier today), their matches vs. the United States will always be more highly-charged than when the USMNT plays Canada (this ain't hockey). Of course, a title is always nice particularly to start what should be a fun summer for the USMNT and the USWNT-the Women's World Cup starts in a month in Australia and New Zealand as the Americans vie for their third straight crown.
Displaying a scoring punch that was severely lacking at the 2022 World Cup, the US struck for a pair of goals in the first half this evening that left Canada stunned and they ultimately never recovered from it. The first was from defender Chris Richards who headed in a corner kick by midfielder Gio Reyna in the 12th minute. Richards plays at Crystal Palace in the Premier League but I have to admit that after he scored, I wondered aloud for a few moments "who is that?" For good reason since it was his first career goal for the USMNT and truth be told, it was one that Canada's goalkeeper the immortal Milan Borjan should have stopped. The header was not that powerful and it did not go into a top corner of the net, instead it somehow went comically under a diving Borjan.
Haters will knock that first US goal (and rightfully so) but the second was all class as our new striker/savior 21-year-old Folarin Balogun took a nifty pass from Reyna, shielded his defender and buried a one-time shot with power and accuracy in the 34th minute. He made his debut on Thursday for the US and this goal should only fuel the hype for what I'm predicting could be the best goal-scorer that we have ever produced. Needless to say that the USMNT rarely ever scored goals that looked like that but if Thursday and today were any indication, we should expect many more highlight reel strikes before long. Canada trailed 2-0 at halftime and despite a misleading 64%-36% advantage in possession, the impotent Canadian attack could only muster four shots on goal and goalkeeper Matt Turner stopped all of them for his second shutout in a row.
After some well-deserved partying in Vegas (what a place to win the CONCACAF Nations League!), the team will mostly go home to rest for their upcoming club seasons or take a vacation to get away from soccer for a bit. There is only a handful of guys that will be competing for the US in the Gold Cup which starts for them next Saturday night (9:30, FS1) in Chicago against Jamaica. The Gold Cup is usually a welcome diversion in the dog days of summer sports but keep in mind if you tune in that you will not be seeing most of the top American players other than Turner who needs all the playing time that he can get after being the backup for almost every Arsenal match in 2022-23. This is a squad that is MLS-heavy since that league is currently in season while all the European leagues are on summer break. Also, the US will look to defend their Gold Cup championship as they won the last competition in 2021.
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